Dr Dawn Bearden and Visionary Eyecare (Independent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) have moved out of their location next to Lenscrafters. Visionary Eyecare and Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden were located next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise (INSIDE SawgrassMills Mall) for almost 15 years but, have now relocated to East Ft Lauderdale.

Eye Doctor, Dr Bearden is still seeing patients in Broward County and now seeing her patients for eye exams in East Ft Lauderdale at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear located at 1489 SE 17th St Suite 2J in Fort Lauderdale FL 33316. The office is on 17th St Causeway – just west of the 17th St bridge, Port Everglades and Bimini Boatyard. We are in the Southport Shopping Plaza with Office Depot and Ross. We are on the second floor – above Wells Fargo Bank and next to Diamante Day Spa.

All patient records and all of the high tech computerized equipment from Visionary Eyecare have been moved to this new location on 17th St in East Ft Lauderdale.

We are sad to leave all of our friends at LensCrafters but, it was time to move on. We will miss LensCrafters but, we are excited for our new venture at Fort Lauderdale Eye Care & Eyewear. Call us if you need an appointment for an eye exam 954-763-2842

Around 10 million school children in America have vision conditionsthat can negatively affect learning. This can be prevented by taking kids to get their first formal eye exam with an Eye Dr in an Eye Clinic BEFORE they enter school. A child’s first eye test with an Eye Doctor should be done between ages 3 and 4. At Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Sunrise (Next to Lenscrafters) and Davie (Next to Pearle Vision) – our Optometrists, Dr Bearden, Dr Tenn and Dr McCulloh, begin to see children at age 4.

Allen Picture Cards

A child does NOT need to be able to verbalize or know their alphabetfor the examinerto perform a comprehensive eye examination.

There are numerous eye charts for children!!

Lea Flip Chart

Allen and Lea charts have pictures or shapes on them that youngsters can identify. The Broken wheel chartallows the child to tell the examiner which wheel on the car is “broken” . The Tumbling E chart (also known as the illiterate chart) allows a child to just POINT in the direction that the “legs of the E” are pointing in.

Allen Picture Eye Chart

Often our children can not express to us when they are having problems with their vision. They may not even realize that they are experiencing vision problems. Sometimes children will try to compensate for vision issues by closing one eye, rubbing their eyes excessively, squinting, skipping over words or loose their place when they are reading.

Kids may start having difficulty in school due to an “unknown” reason. A recent study indicated that up to 60 percent of youngsters that have been identified as “problem learners” or “learning disorder” actually suffer from an undetected visual condition.

Tumbling E Eye Chart

A vision problem is not suspected in many children because they were able to pass the school vision screening or the pediatrician vision screening. These children may still have visual issues but, they were not detected on the screening. Only a comprehensive eye exam, done by an Eye Doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) will be able to detect subtle vision problems.

Broken Wheel Eye Test

Vision issues need to be detected and corrected before age 7 to prevent lifelong problems such as lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn (strabismus), learning disabilities and behavior problems.

Great News!!! If you live in South Florida / Broward County then you need to know that we are Eye Doctor / Optometrist providers for the EyeMed Network Vision Care Insurance Plan to provide you with your discounted Eye Exam, Vision Exam, Vision Testing, Eye Testing, Contact Lens Exam and more!

Please call our offices to confirm that we are still participating in YOUR plan….as contracts come up – some plans are added and others are deleted. Again, its always best to check with us first and remember that the list above is only a partial list!

Be sure to use your benefits before the end of the year….use your Flex Plan Spending!

Congrats and much love to our wonderful Eye Doctor … Emily McCulloh … who was recently married to Brady Hollingsworth on September 27th!

Dr Tenn (our other awesome Optometrist) and Ralph Justiz (our Optometric Technician from the Visionary Eyecare office in Pembroke Pines) traveled to Oklahoma to share this special day with Dr Emily McCulloh. Dr Anna-Kay Tenn served as a beautiful bridesmaid in the wedding. Both – Dr Emily McCulloh and Dr Anna-Kay Tenn work at our Pembroke Pines, as well as, our Sunrise (inside Sawgrass Mills Mall) eye clinic locations located next to Lenscrafters.

Its time to start thinking about enhancing your Halloween costume and Wild Eyes Contact Lenses are the perfect finishing touch to any spectacular costume! The most popular Wild Eyes color contacts around Halloween are the Cat Eye contact lenses and White-Out contact lenses (made popular by Marilyn Manson…a Florida native).

Costume contact lenses are stylish to wear and they are designed for fun but remember, that they are still medical devices that will be placed onto your eyes. They must fit you properly and be well taken care of to keep them very clean so you don’t get any eye infections. Contact lenses that do not fit properly or are not cleaned can cause very serious eye problems. So, it is important to remember that you need your eye doctor to accurately fit them on your eyes and give you a prescription for them. Even if you don’t currently need wear glasses or contacts to see clearly – you still need a prescription for them to ensure they FIT your eyes properly.

Have lots of fun with your costume contact lenses but, NEVER SHARE OR SWAP these or any type of contact lenses with anyone else – this can lead to pinkeye and other potential serious eye infections that could lead to blindness!

Never buy your costume contact lenses from a place (like a Flea Market) that does not ask you for a valid prescription from your eye doctor. Some of these lenses sold in these places are not FDA approved. You ALWAYS need a prescription from your eye doctor to ensure that the contact lenses fit you properly, feel comfortable and won’t cause you any serious eye problems.

First time patient, Tracy, came into our Pembroke Pines office (next to Lenscrafters) yesterday. She was very upset…telling us that she woke up and her vision was fine but, then the vision in her right eye got suddenly VERY blurry….and she could barely see anything !! This happened right after she put in her colored contact lenses. She almost went to the emergency room but, just at that very moment she happened to look down at the newespaper in front of her…… and saw an advertisement for Lenscrafters UNBEATABLE EVENT that is going on right now. Right then she decided to come in to our office (the Indepependent Doctor of Optometry next to Lenscrafters) to see an Eye Doctor instead of going to the ER.

Ralph, the optometric technician, had Tracy take out her colored contact lenses and then did all of the pre-testing on her. He was concerned because the vision in Tracy’s right eye was EXTREMELY blurry. Dr Bearden also became very concerned after she spoke with Ralph about Tracy (before she went in to see Tracy).

After Dr Bearden saw Tracy – something did not seem quite right. Tracy was not displaying any symptoms or vision loss associated with a retinal detachment or any other SERIOUS eye problem – she was just VERY blurry in her right eye – for seemingly no reason. Dr Bearden looked at Tracy’s right eye under magnification with the slit lamp….and saw….a clear contact lens on Tracy’s right eye!?!?! This was after Tracy had already “taken out” her colored contacts….

Dr Bearden told Tracy “There is a clear contact lens on your right eye”…..Tracy did NOT wear CLEAR contacts – she wore COLORED contacts. So this was VERY strange. Where on EARTH did a clear contact lens come from?!?!?!

Suddenly Tracy exclaimed “Oh my GOD….that must be my HUSBAND’s contact lens!!! He must have put it in my case with my colored contacts by accident!!”. Her husband’s clear contact lens must have been stuck to Tracy’s colored contact lens when she put in her contacts that morning – and then remained on her eye when she took out her colored contacts in our office. Tracy had unknowingly been wearing her husband’s contact lens in her right eye – with her own colored contact lens on top of it!! Tracy’s husbands contact lens presription is about 5x STRONGER than Tracy’s – so this was the cause of her mysterious sudden vision blur. Mystery solved!

Dr Bearden and Tracy were both laughing at the incident and they were also both relieved that this was not a serious vision problem….

Tracy was due for her annual contact lens eye examination anyway, so she just had her routine contact lens eye exam while she was in our office and her trip was not wasted!!

This is a funny story but, Tracy did the RIGHT thing – she came in to see an Eye Doctor when her vision became suddenly blurry. Anytime there is a SUDDEN loss of vision or SUDDEN vision blur – always seek care IMMEDIATELY from your eye doctor!!